The comment came as a retailer lobby group launched a campaign claiming ‘shopper dockets’ which give shoppers at Coles and Woolworths access to petrol discounts, are bad for competition in the retail sector.

Addressing analysts earlier today, Caltex said sales through Woolworths-branded petrol stations suffered for a time earlier in the year in the wake of aggressive discounting by Coles.

Caltex supplies Woolworths branded service stations with their petroleum products.

Woolworths took some time to respond to the Coles discounting, the Caltex chief executive Mr Julian Segel said, which pressured volumes it supplies to Woolworths.

Advertisement

‘‘Discounting has now gone back to 4c [a litre] Mr Segel said. ‘‘We are waiting for [the outcome to] the ACCC inquiry.’’

Caltex has not been in discussions with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission on the issue Mr Segal said, while speculating that since the deliberations have continued for so long, that it seems to be a difficult issue to deal with.

Concerned with the impact ‘shopper dockets’ are having in strengthening the position of Coles and Woolworths, the two dominant supermarket chains, the Australian Retailers Association (ARA), Master Grocers Australia, Australian Newsagents and Small Business Australia are campaigning under the headline ‘‘Fuel for thought’’.

The campaign is calling on Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott to commit to ending the petrol shopper docket schemes.

‘‘The fuel dockets offered this year by Woolworths and Coles amount to selling below cost,’’ the ad claims.

‘‘We believe this is a misuse of their ever increasing power in each of the fuel and grocery markets. The supermarket chains already sell approximately 80 per cent of groceries and 50 per cent of fuel and liquor in Australia.

‘‘If these fuel dockets continue at these levels, it’s going to be very hard for other players to compete. As a consequence we may end up with just two players in the country selling fuel and groceries. This is not going to be in the interest of consumers.’’

Woolworths and Coles claim shopper dockets bolster family budgets and were popular with customers who valued the savings on fuel. Coles has argued previously that customers should have lower prices on groceries and be able to save on fuel.

They also point out independent supermarkets also offer petrol discounts.

Last month when ACCC chairman Rod Sims savaged Woolworths and Coles for using steep petrol discounts, citing its long-term impact on competition.

Mr Sims warned if shopper dockets continued at current levels, reaching as high as 45¢ per litre discount against an historic discount closer to 4¢, it would be hard for other players to compete, leaving consumers with two players in the country selling petrol.

He argued Woolworths and Coles should contain the discounts only at their supermarkets, riling the supermarket chains which saw the suggestion as interference in the running of public companies.